Here's a little something that I've been playing around with in my head that I want to work on during my free time...

I want to create an on-line game where players create characters and pit them against each other in gladiatorial-style combat. Characters can use melee or ranged weapons or can use magic for offense and defense. Characters earn experience and go up in levels, allowing them to become more powerful. I also players to be able to create weapons, armors, and magic items for themselves or to sell to other players.

Players would challenge other players and the server would resolve the combat. Before each fight, each player creates a list of attacks that will be executed in order during combat (for example: Normal Attack, Normal Attack, Power Attack). Players should have a variety of attacks available to them: Regular Attack, Power Attack, Disarm, Trip, Shield Bash.

I've been trying to simplify the d20 system to fit my needs, but it makes some things too complicated. Maybe there's something out there that's really mainly for combat that would give the players a lot different possible attacks, making the characters more powerful as they continue playing.

Other ideas I've had:

* Players would have a number of points to distribute among abilities* Races would give bonus/penalties to abilities* Three types of skills: Melee/Ranged Combat, Offense/Defense Magic, and Item Creation* Feats that would give new attacks to the players or would make existing ones more powerful

I guess I'm trying to give the players a lot of options to create unique characters that would fit their playing style: a tank fighter, an agile fighter, a magician, a craftsman, or a mixture of any.

Through this project, I'm also hoping to learn PHP as that is what I'll be using to program the game.

So, anyone care to give me a hand with this little hobby of mine? Any comments to possible abilities, skills, feats, combat system, etc. I'd really appreciate any help that I can get.

If I were doing something like this I'd start with Melee and Wizard (or Advanced Melee, Advanced Wizard, and In the Labyrinth - collectively known as TFT) and build on item creation rules from there. Of course, I'd also do this if I were doing something like a lot of things, but that's my 2 cents worth.

You need to run (not walk, but run) to your nearest gaming store and purchase a copy of The Riddle of Steel. If you need persuasion, go to the Riddle of Steel forum elsewhere on the Forge and to the website. In particular, you will want to download the combat simulator program.

Thanks for the replies! I've taken a look at Riddle of Steel and I'm interested in learning more ... I believe I'll be getting the book soon. I've also seen another one called Swashbuckler by Jolly Roger Games ... that looks like it also has a lot of attack maneuvers and a complex combat system.

From what I've seen of both games, I've managed to pick up a lot of ideas and I'll be trying to write it down and try to come up with something that works and is fun ... but I'll definitely look into Riddle of Steel.